INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE DIALECTICAL JOURNAL These instructions will assist you as you complete your journal. • Using 20 quotes from throughout the books, complete dialectical entries (sample entry included). • The dialectical journal is a double-entry note taking system. It helps one to read critically and encourages the habit of reflective questioning. It is a place to record and explore ideas using writing as a tool for learning.
Instructions:
1. Draw a line down the middle of the paper, making two columns. 2. The left column is used for notes - direct quotations or summaries from the reading WITH Page #s.3. The right column is used for commenting on notes in the left column. Personal reactions to the notes on the left go here. The comments on the right may include:
  • what the passage prompts in thinking or memory associations;
  • feelings toward the author’s words;
  • words or passages not understood;
  • words or passages that look important; and
  • connections among passages or sections of the work.
  • pictures, drawings, collages or graphic representations

As you take notes in your journal, you should regularly reread the previous pages of notes and comments, drawing connections in a right-column summary before starting another page of the journal.